Dec 27 2015

A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge

There are so many, many great and splendid things about this book. First, as with all good hard sf, it is a novel of ideas, not merely translating our human experiences into distant settings, but also imagining alternate forms of personhood, whether in the structure of alien races — beyond the tired insectoid/robotic hive minds prevalent in popular sci-fi, tho forms of these are indeed as present in it as are our own familiar human lives — or in the very stratification of the universe into levels of consciousness and technology, and how entities bridge these levels. It sounds crazy and hard to fathom, but Vernor Vinge makes it all not only accessible but plausible.

In addition, his characterizations are excellent (and refreshingly not white-male-centric.) As well as being a novel of Ideas, this book is also a deeply moving study of love in its many forms, of greed and sadism and fear and, most importantly, of the will to self-determination. Towards that last, this book is also a rollicking adventure story with a body count that made me, at one point, scream with frustration at its sheer realism (and send my bff a garbled message heavy on emoji. Think of a sci-fi Game Of Thrones. Yep, like that.)

I shouldn’t, however, say that it was just the deaths that affected me. A Fire Upon The Deep deals with a concept even greater than the loss of life: it spends a great deal of time considering the loss of self. What does it mean to be someone entirely different than you’ve always believed? Is it possible for us to escape our programming, one could even say, our destinies? How much of our personalities are immalleable? It’s a breath-taking exploration of not only the outer reaches of space but also the interior space of the mind and soul.

Continue reading

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Dec 23 2015

The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty

I usually find Liane Moriarty novels superlative, but this one fell short for me. Here’s my main problem with The Last Anniversary: it’s fairly clear from the outset that Grace has post-natal depression, yet at no time in the proceedings does she acknowledge this as true. It’s absolutely maddening. I also haaaaated Laura. I suppose her unhappiness was supposed to be punishment enough, but I thought the way she raised Grace was completely fucked up. I was also irritated by Margie’s problems all being solved as soon as she lost weight, and also by her “not exactly” affair. No, Margie, it wasn’t an affair at all; people are allowed to have friends of the opposite sex, you know. It was also very hard to figure out what Audrey (who was yay, Malaysian!) saw in Veronika, tho I suppose one could just chalk that down to the vagaries of love.

Anyway, there were too many headscratching moments in an otherwise terrific novel (that ending! So sneaky and satisfying!) for me to rate it as highly as the rest of her oeuvre, but the mystery was really well done and I did stay up far too late reading it, the hallmark of a very good book.

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Dec 20 2015

Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina by Misty Copeland

So I’m torn. I’m a big fan of ABT (because Center Stage is the best dance movie ever, and also everything ABT stands for) and I knew of Misty Copeland but I never really cared about her any more than the average principal dancer till I saw her judging on So You Think You Can Dance and HOLY SHIT was she not one of the best guest judges they’d ever had?! Smart, sensitive and sensible: her advice was astoundingly good, and I got the feeling that she genuinely cared about the dancers on the stage and wanted to help them improve. I’ve been a fan of hers ever since, so was super excited to get this book. And for the first part, I was totally with her. But… I dunno. So much of the second half left me cold. Maybe it was because the storytelling stopped being entirely linear, jumping back and forth in her history to illustrate themes instead. Maybe it was because I found it exceedingly hard to be sympathetic to her mother, and thought the part where Misty tried to make her dance teacher’s motives seem ulterior extremely tacky. I know it was difficult to be honest about what had happened, and I admire the courage it took for Misty to present what happened alongside her own, often conflicting motivations as a teenager and admitted people-pleaser, but dang. Her family behaved really badly. Having to read Misty bend over backwards to apologize for, if not outright defend, them was neither fun nor entertaining.

And for some reason, that dimmed my enthusiasm for her determination to be a role model, so to speak, for other black and brown girls. Just the glaring lack of self-awareness between her “well, Cindy must have done it primarily for herself, not me” and her “I’m doing this primarily for others, not myself” when it seems perfectly clear that they both wanted the same thing… I dunno. It’s not as bad as your average memoir written by a 30-something American woman, but it falls far short of where it needs to be in terms of introspection and maturity.

Which isn’t to say that the book is at all juvenile! Misty Copeland is a truly inspirational figure, and I absolutely agree with her belief that circumstances shouldn’t deter people from working towards their dreams. I’d absolutely snap up a book she wrote at the end of a hopefully long and lauded career, when she and I are both decrepit old people who’ve had time to look back over our lives and reflect. That said, I can see the point of having this book come out now, to encourage young (and hey, even not-so-young) people to follow their dreams, but I honestly don’t think she’s had enough distance from the controversies of her upbringing to really tease through all the emotional fallout and give us a clear picture of herself and her place in the world. So I’m torn. The book is good enough for what it set out to do, but it could be so much more. Here’s hoping we get a better version fifty or so years from now!

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/12/20/life-in-motion-an-unlikely-ballerina-by-misty-copeland/

Dec 18 2015

I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley

I really enjoyed her fiction work, so in comparison, this collection of essays seems fairly bland. It’s okay if you want to read the musings of a young, single white American woman living in New York City, but it’s nothing groundbreaking, distinctive or even particularly memorable. There’s some humor to it, but I didn’t find it laugh out loud funny. Passable entertainment.

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Dec 15 2015

The Nuns of Sant’Ambrogio: The True Story of a Convent in Scandal by Hubert Wolf

I’ll admit, I picked up the book because “ooh, sexy nuns!” But The Nuns Of Sant’Ambrogio turned out to be so much more: an intelligent examination of the Catholic Church in a turbulent period of the 19th century, with this scandal serving to illuminate the theological and political divides that have shaped the institution (and frankly, in the opinion of both the author and myself, not necessarily for the good.)

So you’ve got the beautiful Sister Maria Luisa, the surprisingly young and powerful mother vicaress of the convent of Sant’Ambrogio, founded by a woman, Maria Agnese Firrao, who was later convicted of false holiness (i.e. she claimed to be a saint but the Inquisition found otherwise.) Maria Agnese Firrao left behind a legacy of mysticism and abuse that Maria Luisa would both fall victim to and take full advantage of… and that’s ostensibly the story here, with lesbianism, and forbidden affairs between nuns and priests, and several murders thrown in for good measure. Juicy, titillating stuff.

But Hubert Wolf isn’t a mere scandal-monger. He’s a German professor and church historian who was given access to the Inquisition’s files, as well as an author with a fine eye for parallels and nuance, and more importantly a person with a deep human empathy. There are so many paths he could have taken this book down, but he chose, in my opinion, the best one: to show the corrupting influence of unquestioned power and self-delusion. No one is left off the hook as he dissects the tragedy of Sant’Ambrogio and tells us what happened to the participants after the ensuing trial. I still feel a heartbroken fury for certain of the parties involved, knowing what I do now.

I was also deeply affected by the feminism of the book. Mr Wolf doesn’t infantilize or objectivize the women or what they did, but presents them as complete human beings. Princess Katharina, the novice who sets the denunciation of the convent in motion, is clearly one of those women who are more well-meaning than practical, but Mr Wolf is never dismissive of her or her claims. Maria Luisa is pretty much the exact opposite of Katharina, and a terrible person, but I still couldn’t help feeling for her. Impoverished and expected as a child to run the household upon her mother’s death, she finds solace in the religion of a kindly woman neighbour, who encourages her to take a vow of chastity (before the age of 10! What kind of trauma would encourage a child that young to do so?) and helps her win a dowry (essentially a scholarship) to gain entry to the convent of Sant’Ambrogio. Leaving behind her actual sisters (who I got the distinct impression she didn’t care for) for an idealized sisterhood at the age of 12, she discovers… well, you’ll have to read this heartbreaker of a book to find out for yourself.

I hope I haven’t given the impression that this book is just about the convent and its inhabitants. There is an exhaustive amount of research into church history and politics, leading to some truly shocking revelations as to the theologian behind several of the important (and in some opinions divisive, if not outright questionable) dogmas adapted in the 19th century (including the ordinary magisterium and papal infallibility.) As a Muslim, I hadn’t had any idea of certain aspects of Catholic theology till this book, but Mr Wolf made it all accessible and interesting. I wouldn’t recommend this book for people who don’t have an interest in theological intrigue, but for those who do, The Nuns Of Sant’Ambrogio is pretty much the gold standard.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/12/15/the-nuns-of-santambrogio-the-true-story-of-a-convent-in-scandal-by-hubert-wolf/

Dec 12 2015

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

A sweet, clever romance set around the turn of the 21st century. It’s easy to see how Lincoln could fall in love with Beth via her e-mails to her best friend: I kinda wanted her to be my best friend, too, by the end of the book (pax, Jon, I know I already have the best bff ever.) The only thing that didn’t ring true for me was the scene in the movie theater towards the end and, to a lesser extent, the scene after that by the vending machines; kinda odd that I enjoyed so much of Beth and Lincoln apart, but not necessarily when they shared the page together. Otherwise a thoroughly enjoyable and wittily constructed, if not outstanding, novel.

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Dec 09 2015

The Likeness (Dublin Murder Squad #2) by Tana French

Tana French writes some really terrific, atmospheric fiction. She’s good at untangling complicated emotions and relationships and presenting them to the reader in a sympathetic fashion. But oh my God, this was the most ludicrous mystery setup I’ve ever read. It was so bad that I’m confident not even post-Meloni Law & Order: SVU would touch the premise. To wit: a former undercover cop assumes an old identity that has been stolen by a woman who shows up murdered. Fine… until you realize that she’s infiltrating not a drug ring or other form of organized crime, but a close-knit group of four other post-graduate students. None of whom, she believes for the longest time, could possibly be responsible for the murder. I mean, what in the hell kind of cop has instincts this terrible?! I get that she’s sublimating her own identity in becoming a member of their idealized “family” (and yes, the process is akin to entering a cult) due to having been orphaned herself as a child, and yes it’s an interesting mental conundrum, but the gross lack of professionalism had me seriously doubting that any superior officer in his right mind would sign off on this convoluted bullshit.

And then, to add to my outraged disbelief, the goddamned book cribs straight off Donna Tartt’s The Secret History only with cops. Why even fucking bother?! As a reader, or even as a writer? When I got to the climax of the story all I felt was “been there, and enjoyed the other version miles better.”

You know what else I couldn’t handle? How I was supposed to sympathize with “Lexie” at the end in Cassie’s imaginings. I mean, I get it, it’s a seductive lifestyle, but Lexie was a very hurtful human being, and romanticizing her shit was far too adolescent for me to stomach.

I’m at the point in this series where I still really want this to be good but am seriously side eyeing all the glowing reviews because this just isn’t as amazing as others, readers and critics I respect, would have me believe. I mean, I really did like Cassie when she got her head together and remembered that she was working, and I did like seeing how her relationship with Sam and even Rob evolved. But I’m still mad about issues unresolved in/from In The Woods, so… I dunno, one more book? I think three is enough of a series for me to really decide whether it’s worthwhile or no.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/12/09/the-likeness-dublin-murder-squad-2-by-tana-french/

Dec 05 2015

Rogues edited by George R R Martin and Gardner Dozois

A solid collection of stories, some better than others, but none, if I’m being quite honest, really a groundbreaker. My favorites were likely The Inn Of The Seven Blessings by Matthew Hughes (whom I’d never heard of before) and Tawny Petticoats by Michael Swanwick (whose Mongolian Wizard series I adore!) The non-fantastic entries were, I felt, weaker than the others, tho I really enjoyed Connie Willis’ extrapolation of modern-day society and pop culture with Now Showing. Patrick Rothfuss gave us a really strong story set in the universe of the Kingkiller Chronicles, but I felt that George R R Martin’s own contribution here, The Rogue Prince, wasn’t much more than a rather salacious he-said/she-said popular, if fictional, history. Overall, an entertaining collection of easily readable stories, even if some of them hew only loosely to the theme.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/12/05/rogues-edited-by-george-r-r-martin-and-gardner-dozois/

Nov 29 2015

Disclaimer by Renee Knight

About halfway through this book, I hated everyone involved (with the great exception of Catherine,) including, and this is saying something, the author. But I’m glad I gritted my teeth and got to the end, because it was well worth it. In Disclaimer, people are awful to each other because they seek to assuage their inner pain, and make up their own truths because they can neither face nor understand reality. I thought what happened to Catherine in the middle incredibly unfair (hence why I was so angry with the author) so was thoroughly pleased with the denouement and, especially, the decision she made (because fuck Robert.) I did think what happened to Stephen rather harsh (and frankly melodramatic;) the poor man had already suffered enough. But quite a clever novel, overall.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/11/29/disclaimer-by-renee-knight/

Nov 27 2015

A Brief History Of Seven Killings by Marlon James

I haven’t been so relieved to finish a book in a very long time. Not that it’s badly written, or even that it’s dull, just that it’s so unrelentingly violent and dismal that I could not, in any of my other entertainments, even approach anything destructive (so, goodbye, playing Witcher 3 or watching True Detective for the duration.) There are things I enjoyed about A Brief History Of Seven Killings (to which also, “brief” my ass.) Nina’s storyline was painfully familiar to me both as an elder sibling and as an immigrant in self-imposed exile. The patois was a lot of fun to read: haven’t enjoyed that kind of immersive conversational writing since, jeez, probably a Roddy Doyle novel. And I learned a lot more about Bob Marley and Jamaica’s history in the late 20th century than I’d known before. But I will never read this book again, and hesitate to recommend it even, Booker win notwithstanding. I’ll excerpt from my conversation with the bff why:

“Yeah, the book I’m reading is tiresomely violent: there are mass shootings, assassinations, drug deaths, beatings, very un-sexy sex. Which is all realistic but unrelentingly ugly, and I am fortunate that my everyday life has more room for happiness and beauty in it than the world depicted in the book. I’m going to be glad to finish it (hopefully today) then will likely take a break from books to read a fashion magazine before plunging back in to other’s, hopefully less depressing, imaginations. Idk, does that sound callous? I mean, I don’t want to dismiss the lived experiences of others but this book highlights the most brutal and sordid chapters of these people’s lives and it’s hard to digest all at once without cutting back on other sources of violence in order to retain some form of mental-emotional balance. I sympathize but would just as soon work towards no one having to live in that world rather than wallow in its filth and details.”

On an even more Doreen-is-a-bad-reader note, I freely admit that a lot of the voices tended to blend into each other for me. I had a hard time differentiating between the expendable shooters, as well as between the American officials/conspirators for too-long stretches of the book. ABHO7K is a challenging novel, and if that’s what you’re into, more power to you. But there were only so many permutations of violence, drugs and cheerless sex I could handle.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/11/27/a-brief-history-of-seven-killings-by-marlon-james/